I turn toward the new arrival, keeping Elena behind me as I firm up my grip on the shotgun and wait for them to come to a stop beside my Chevy.
The driver door opens, and a man dressed pristinely in an all-black suit climbs out. His eyes land on Elena the moment he’s out of the car.
“Elena De Luca,” He addresses her, “Long fucking time.”
Elena steps up beside me, letting her hand slide down my forearm before she links her fingers with mine. The man doesn’t miss it, a grin pulling up his mouth.
“Knox,” She says, “Meet Caden Blackwood. Cade, this is Knox Carter.”
“Yourfriend?” I ask.
“The very one,” She confirms.
My forearms rest on the railing on the porch, watching Elena and Cade talking by the paddock where Ralph and the herd are grazing. Koda and Lettie are patrolling, and the guys are back from their day off, completing the jobs I didn’t manage to get finished.
My spine stiffens as I watch Cade reach for her, his finger curling beneath her chin, and she allows it, tilting her head back. His touch on her seems familiar, comfortable, andI don’t fucking like it.
It’s not lost on me that this is what she felt with Everly.
Jealousy isn’t something I am familiar with.
He says something to her, and her eyes cut to me before they return to him, and then it’s him staring me down. I meet his eyes, refusing to back down. It’s not hard to realize he’s from a background just like hers.
For a few long seconds, we hold the position, but then a grin splits his hard expression, and he drops his hand from her chin. If I’m not mistaken, a relieved exhale loosens Elena’s shoulders before they start to walk toward me.
CHAPTER 36
The thing about Caden Blackwood is that he’s a walking, talking, ticking time bomb. The Blackwood’s have been allies to the De Luca’s since way before my time and with every generation, it passes down but the youngest Blackwood, the one now in control, the one who has slaughtered half his organization and is currently walking at my side is unpredictable. I’ve known him since we were kids, but no one really knows him.
Calling on him for help was risky, but it was the only card I had left, and there was a very real risk that my uncle had already gotten to him.
He walks at my side, skin etched with art, black swirls of ink that cover his arms, hands and creep up the sides of his neck from the collar of his blackbutton-down. Rings on every finger, a hoop in the left ear with an industrial through the top, and a nose ring. He was never meant to be in charge; that much is common knowledge. The youngest of three brothers, and since he was never meant to have the throne, he was left unchecked and untested.
Now we have this man who toes the line, and no one truly knows where his loyalties lie or how morally corrupt he actually is.
But the fact that he is here alone, when he has his own issues to deal with in his city, is testament to the tie between our two families.
He didn’t say a thing to me as I explained the whole situation to him, my uncle, Rio and that Knox had already dealt with the problem with the latter. He still didn’t speak when he tilted my chin to get a better look at the bruising on my throat and face. And when he looked over to Knox, with those cunning eyes the color of a glacier, so piercing, set beneath dark brows and scruffy hair that’s longer on top and cropped close to his skull on the sides, my heart caught in my throat.
Unpredictable.
But then he grinned like he found Knox having the man trampled to death amusing, and I knew we had passed some silent test.
Caden shoves a hand out to Knox, who takes it, reservation making his shoulders high and tight, body so stiff with unease it can be seen ahundred miles away.
“You have nothing to worry about with me,” Cade assures him, shaking his hand. “You will not see my men.”
“You’ve brought people?” Knox questions.
“We don’t go to war alone,” Caden grins.
“And just where will this war land?” Knox quirks one dark brow.
“Well, that all depends on how long Anton takes to realize his man is dead and no body is delivered. He’s a smart man; he won’t just show up, especially when he realizes Elena has her own army now.”
“At what cost?”
I stifle a sigh. Asking the right questions, not backing down even though the man in front of him could have this place razed to the ground, and we all know it. Not even I could ever dream of taking on a family like the Blackwoods.
